Immerse yourself in Olafur Eliasson's 'Firefly city'
Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Firefly city 2025 / Coloured glass (purple), coloured glass (clear) with semi-transparent mirror colour-effect filter, colour-effect filter glass (blue, red), LEDs, aluminium, stainless steel, paint (black), wire, motor, ballast / 103cm (diam.) / © 2025 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Photograph: J Ruckli © QAGOMA / View full image
Encounter art like never before. ‘Olafur Eliasson: Presence’ beckons us with radiant light. Immerse yourself in Firefly city 2025 — casting complex, colourful shapes and shadows onto the surrounding space, compressing a universe of potential into a single sphere.
At its centre is a single light source around which a series of geometries, gels and mirrored pieces of glass are set. Light bounces and is refracted within the sphere, as well as radiates outwards to cover the walls and our bodies. Firefly city offers a space for quiet reflection and contemplation as you watch the sphere, suspended at the centre of a darkened room, turns slowly, its appearance changing as it moves.
Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Firefly city 2025 / Coloured glass (purple), coloured glass (clear) with semi-transparent mirror colour-effect filter, colour-effect filter glass (blue, red), LEDs, aluminium, stainless steel, paint (black), wire, motor, ballast / 103cm (diam.) / © Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image
Inside Firefly city, light is refracted and multiplied within a nest of geometric forms, each delineated in mirror and glass. While much of the light is held within an outer skin of purple-grey glass, light and colour shine through, playing upon our bodies and the walls
This flickering effect is particularly vivid in the spaces between the outer skin of the sphere and its supporting frame. The outer form is in fact an icosahedron, a Platonic solid made of 20 curved triangular faces. Inside, two further polyhedra rotate slowly around a central axis: a rhombic triacontahedron (30 faces) realised in semi-reflective glass; and at the core, a dodecahedron (12 faces) in dichroic glass.
Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Firefly city 2025 / Coloured glass (purple), coloured glass (clear) with semi-transparent mirror colour-effect filter, colour-effect filter glass (blue, red), LEDs, aluminium, stainless steel, paint (black), wire, motor, ballast / 103cm (diam.) / © Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image
Delve into the work of Olafur Eliasson — immersive installations that play with light, colour and perception.
‘Presence’ is accompanied by an expansive publication produced in collaboration with Olafur Eliasson and his studio, as well as a range of exhibition merchandise.
The exhibition is complemented by QAGOMA’s interactive mobile companion, which includes an exhibition guide with curatorial insights, images, and behind-the-scenes videos, and a sense trail that invites visitors to experience selected artworks through gentle sensory prompts. When you buy your ticket to 'Presence', you’ll immediately get access to enhance your visit, so bring your headphones.
Olafur Eliasson: Presence
6 December 2025 – 12 July 2026
Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery)
Brisbane, Australia
Get tickets to 'Olafur Eliasson: Presence’